I'm bemused - perhaps: confused - why the issue of iTunes always results in a discussion re: mp3. Admittedly I've never subscribed to iTunes (other than recently when I bought a couple of iPods and found I had to register in order to get them to work ... bought them to use as control points for my hi-fi).

When I ripped a few CDs to the new iPod I found I could use Lossless.

Similarly, you can use mp3 without touching iTunes.

My limited exposure to mp3 means I'm no longer critical of its format ... clearly it is useful for the purpose of storage, transport and access, etc. But with computer storage relatively cheap now I'm not sure that the benefit of smaller storage is a valid argument.

Since the sound quality of CDs varies enormously I don't think anyone can argue that the good mp3 recording sounds poor ... but I do know that playing mp3 through hi-fi does show its limitations and if compared with lossless then the difference becomes more obvious.

An audiophile proved to me that you really need extremely sensitive hearing and complex hifi-equipment to truly recognize the loss of mp3 quality.

Also, anyone over the age of 40 will rarely still possess the ability to hear it.

So... I´m good ;-)

Probably for lossy stuff that you purchase online, they have some verifications about the quality. 15 years ago, I noticed that a significant fraction of MP3s had defects : noticeable sound differences, bad stereo, clicks, gaps. This where I decided to stop listening any lossy material. A high bitrate on a lossy file doesn't guarantee you have the same thing as on the CD, but for a lossless file and a log of the CD rip, yes -- so I'm quite proud of my trouble free/exact CD rip collection, even though I might or might not tell the difference.

The thought of an ethereal collection of music is very appealing to me -- and I do have hundreds of CDs encoded on my computer. However, my NYC CD and lp collection of over 2,000 dates back to the dawn of the format -- and for me to find the time now to rip everything to a hard drive (where I DO have the storage capacity) is not possible as I have a full time job, 9 - 5. I am not averse as I get older to sorting through my collection and getting rip of extraneous material.

I recently faced a major life event when my father went into an assisted living facility in the Midwest -- which forced the sale of our family home where I had stored virtually everything from my life up to age 24 (when I started living in NYC). I threw out virtually everything from the past -- saving only a few "resonant" items. Part of that included dealing with my 45, 78, and lp "Midwest" collection that totaled over 3,000. Luckily I had a young cousin who is crazy about vinyl-- and I gifted the entire collection to him.

I've felt a huge "weight of the past" lifted from my shoulders since we closed out the house -- which is encouraging me to look at my present NYC collection of books, lps, and CDs with a more jaundiced eye. I've already given some treasured movie memorabilia to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It makes me feel great that those items are now safe and available for others to enjoy.

Perhaps it's time to look at my other material -- and in fact books are actually harder for me to get rid of than CDs.

The music, notwithstanding, the sheer amount of information, analysis, opinion and art in many of today's CD booklets - art that gives sight to the sounds (and this music was written for a visual medium, remember) makes losing/archiving all of those hardcopies incomprehensible to me.

I'm old fashioned enough to want to play albums through from beginning to end, not jump around random tracks from random albums.

Simple solution to this. Scan the booklets when you rip the CD. I do this for most of my CD purchases. Then if I want to sit and read the booklet it is right there along with all the other artwork. No need for this artwork to be printed on paper to give me the same connection to the film or the brilliant words in the liner notes.

I'm not yet ready for putting all my CDs in storage somewhere out of sight but my husband is frequently suggesting that it might be a good idea. One of these days I'll have to give in and do that so it is good that I have my music properly ripped. I regularly back up my rips to an external hard drive in case my computer's hard drive crashes.

Scanning and labeling booklets is extremely labor intensive, not to mention an incredibly boring job to do. I personal hate reading PDF's on a computer. I find it far more comfortable to hold the booklets in my hands and flip the pages as I read. No up and down arrows. No zooming in and out.

Am I the only one who finds it odd that a producer of albums that retail at $20 a throw is suddenly telling us that mp3 files sound fine, and that CDs are not worth the clutter? Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his product, especially when his entire output is readily available as free mp3 downloads. The mind boggles….

Am I the only one who finds it odd that a producer of albums that retail at $20 a throw is suddenly telling us that mp3 files sound fine, and that CDs are not worth the clutter? Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his product, especially when his entire output is readily available as free mp3 downloads. The mind boggles….

I don't think this is necessarily a contradiction. I think Lukas is a realist and the obsolescence of the CD was one of the contributing factors as to why he decided to stop producing FSM CDs. As for me, I personally love the TLC that goes into each of the archival releases that the limited edition labels produce and for that reason will continue to buy CDs. I'm far less attached to CDs for modern score releases (and I'm generally also far less attached to modern scores!)

The number one factor that's making me somewhat rethink CDs is the increased shipping costs. I live in Canada and it's generally $9 a pop at least for shipping. I used to frequently pick up used or OOP releases on a one-off basis even 2 or 3 years ago, but that's becoming an impossibility now. It also works against me in trying to resell CDs that I don't care for... I have to take a hit either in my asking prices or my shipping costs just to get any interest in these scores.

I've felt a huge "weight of the past" lifted from my shoulders since we closed out the house -- which is encouraging me to look at my present NYC collection of books, lps, and CDs with a more jaundiced eye. I've already given some treasured movie memorabilia to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It makes me feel great that those items are now safe and available for others to enjoy.

Perhaps it's time to look at my other material -- and in fact books are actually harder for me to get rid of than CDs.

That's really cool that you did that... good on you. A big part of my early exploration of film and classical music came from CDs I borrowed from my University library. Hope someone out there appreciates your generosity!

Am I the only one who finds it odd that a producer of albums that retail at $20 a throw is suddenly telling us that mp3 files sound fine, and that CDs are not worth the clutter? Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his product, especially when his entire output is readily available as free mp3 downloads. The mind boggles….

I was thinking the same thing, except I do not download the free mp3s. I do not download anything.

I only use my computer for auditioning track samples. Otherwise I listen to CDs, CDrs and the odd vinyl on my 45-year old JBLs and McIntosh amplifiers. I'll be 69 next Saturday so it's unlikely I'll start any ripping now...

CDs go bad! I have some CDRs of things that we either created for internal work purposes, or were given to us, etc.—many of them are now unreadable...

Lukas

Good grief! I hope that these don't include some of the additional Bond tracks that didn't make it into the expanded "Thunderball" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" CDs that you produced over a decade ago!

In preparation for a move, gradually thin out your physical CD collection on a regular basis. Thousands of CDs can weigh quite a lot, and moving them can be quite a strain on your back (which is a lot more important and a lot more irreplaceable than any CD collection).

Thanks for your refreshingly candid post, Lukas. (Come to think of it, that goes for all of the posts that you've made on this forum.)

In echoing OnyaBirri's comment, I think that Lukas should be trying to promote CD purchases. After all, why should I as the consumer pay for a poorer quality mp3 download, for example on iTunes, than what is easily available as an illegal download at FLAC or high quality mp3. Personally I like a physical product in order to somehow feel that my hard earned money is buying something better than what can be easily found illegally. Plus I like listening to CDs in my car CD player and high fidelity audio system.

Great discussion! Just this wknd I poured through my non-soundtrack collection... going to trade in 100 and transfer the remaining jewel cases to the DiscSox sleeves. Space taken up by the cases is the biggest issue, even with a 'lean' collection of about 400. Same number of Soundtracks, which I have in case logic cases (not the wallets!) If LLL or Intrada ever offer a digital option I think I'd be in.

How's everyone's experience been with soundtracks on the Icloud/match system? I imagine most of the albums need to be uploaded since they're not offered on itunes?

Am I the only one who finds it odd that a producer of albums that retail at $20 a throw is suddenly telling us that mp3 files sound fine, and that CDs are not worth the clutter? Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his product, especially when his entire output is readily available as free mp3 downloads. The mind boggles….

Setting aside the quality issue, the bigger point weather ripping in lossless or lossy is the sheer conviniance.

Not only is it nice to not have to get up each time (or even go and get a bunch at once) when wanting to listen to something, having an easily accessible digital archive has other advantages beyond that. One major one is an easy way of searching through stuff -- for instance today I wanted to know if I had a track of Jingle Bells, so I just typed 'jingle' into the search box and found one...no need to try and remember what CD it might be on, if any (and since it's not on a classical CD it's not in my database). Also being able to check how something sounds....or merely listen to any track right away without having to dig out the disc just for that track.

Anyone one most people probably don't consider since they are so slavishly beholdedn to 'albums' is being able to listen to things in customized order without annoying programming a multi-disc player and pauses while the discs change. One can listen to, say, a symphony cycle in order without dealing with the fact that one disc has 1 & 4, the next 2 & 6, etc....or even just the simplicity of multi-disc sets with no breaks (certainly good for a lot of film scores).

There's other benefits I'm sure I could come up with given more time...

Yep, exactly. Lukas has been and likely will always be a realist. Even and especially when everyone may not be on board with his statements ( that is, when he says something that makes someone's eyes bug out and jaw drop like in a Tex Avery cartoon ). He usually can be counted on to lay it on the line, more often than not in a diplomatic manner.

Not to mention that beyond making a simple playlist of whatever tracks you might want, with digital files you can create your own mp3 album with the tracks combined for thematic purposes if you want (for example all your favorite relaxing music, action music, etc).

As for scanning, yes it takes a long time, which is why I do it as I get them. But also you'd be surprised how many collectors have already done the labor intensive work of scanning album art. Though one could argue that downloading the booklet is just as much piracy as downloading the album. VGMDB, a site that insists it doesn't provide pirated materials, includes a gallery of scans of booklets from anime and video game soundtracks. Similar sites exist for booklets from film score albums.

Is it piracy to download a lossless rip of a CD you legally purchased so you don't have to rip it yourself? There are many different ways to save your time on this task but one thing is clear. If done correctly it doesn't have to be done more than once. Once done correctly, you can take a trip and have all your music available to you in some form or another. I uploaded a good portion of my music into Google Music so that I have a large amount of music in the cloud when I am on the go.